Sunday, January 2, 2011

The boys and I...

Wow, two days in a row I've decided to let my thoughts loose.

Today I was a 'single mom' as I call it. Joe had to work so I had both boys all day. It was really too cold outside to do anything as it was actually low 30s in Dallas. We did a lot of indoor playing today.

Joey mastered the beyblade wii game. He told me about 1pm today that he beat the entire thing in less than a day. You could hear shouts from upstairs yelling, "OMG I actually beat the hardest level!"

Justin is so funny. He goes in waves as to what toys he plays with. He'll go really hard in one direction and then turn sharply and go after something else. For Christmas the boys were really into beyblades and bakugans. Now Justin has been going back to playing in the sandbox with his monster trucks and playing with his Disney Cars Movie cars. We almost sold the Cars and the monster trucks and it was a good thing we didn't!

Justin also usually can NOT play on his own. He either needs Joe, Joey or I to sit and play with him.

Today he played all by himself most of the day. Joey was playing the wii and Justin played nicely on his own. I made sure to walk over to him numerous times and give him a hug and kiss and tell him I loved him.

I woke up with an unusual amount of motivation and used it to clean the house and to unload every cabinet and drawer in my kitchen and rearrange and purge stuff. My kitchen is so organized and clean now and I feel a load off my back. It's been hard to figure out where to put things away lately. I got a few new kitchen appliances for Christmas and I knew it was time to clean the kitchen. Now everything has it's own place. I also picked up this pot/pan lid organizer at IKEA this past week so I set that up and now have all the lids in one place. Usually when I need a pot with a lid I have to dig around for which is the correct one. If we put the lids back on the correct pot when we were done we wouldn't have this issue but Joe unloads the dishwasher and I hate to ask him to find all the pot lids and put them on the pots when he puts them away. So this was the easier answer!

Everyone took a nap today since it seems everyone has been going to bed late and getting up early over vacation. The boys seemed a lot happier after they woke up from them. Joey knows on Sundays we ALL take naps and so he doesn't even fight it. That way I know he's getting a sleep recharge for class to start all over on Monday.

Joey had a goal of reading 10 books over break. We smashed that goal tonight and read about 12 or 13. He was so excited he was begging to read more and more. By the end of the night he was reading to me with hardly any help at all. He then ASKED to do his book report. When we first started book reports he hated them so much he'd cry and whine. Now he knows what the questions are (what was the book about, who were the characters, when and where did it take place and what did you like/dislike about it) and he will write out the entire book report himself! I was so proud of him tonight!

Over this break we worked on a few things. I always do a little extra homework with the boys to reinforce what they will learn at school. Joey learned how to count money and tell time. I was so excited when he picked both of these up! Justin worked on fine motor skills - tracing and cutting. We use these little workbooks we got from the local teacher supply store. Justin went from not being able to trace hardly at all to following the lines very well. He went from turning his hand while cutting to finally turning the paper today. Everything is even more of a challenge because both of the boys are left handed and both Joe and I are NOT left handed.

For Christmas Santa got Joey some pencil grippers - four different kinds. He's been having fun trying out each one and he can't wait to try them at school tomorrow.

It is amazing the pride you feel as a parent when your own child learns something and finally gets it - or does something on their own without your help. It's almost a sad feeling because they are growing up and becoming more independent. At the same time it's a feeling of accomplishment even though it's something you didn't do yourself. I didn't do that book report on my own, but I sure felt excited and pride when he did it on his own!

I know my little boys are growing up fast. Justin is always trying to be older like his brother and growing at a faster pace than I think Joey did. I just want my boys to always know that their mother loved them so much. I may have been strict in some aspects, but I do it all out of love.

This house we welcome tons of hugs and kisses. I don't care if people shun the idea that boys shouldn't be all coddled and all that crap. In my house my boys will always be shown love and I hope that always makes them happy and secure. I know one day they won't want me to display it like I do now, but I hope that they will always hug me and tell me they love me...

While I was reading to Joey today, Alex the cat decided to take a nap :)

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About Briana...

It's the little moments that matter most in life. The moments that are often forgotten...unless recorded.
Welcome! I'm Briana. We are Michiganders that have relocated to Dallas, Texas and LOVE it here. We have two kids - Joey who's 14 and Justin who's 11. We have a cat and 2 dogs.
I'm used to be an avid scrapbooker, photographer and now I'm obsessed with Genealogy.